restore starcraft American

i'am new and would like to have some advice about my project form you. I bought a time ago this starcraft american.

Because the boat was inside in a bad condition, i pulled out the floor carpet, all the seats, the inside upholstery, the instrument and so on.
Now I doubt about what I should do now? Should I remove the cap of the boat or isn't that necessairy, because i thonk it is in a good shape...

What about the deck floor? I cut the rotten parts out of it and saw the foam was wet. I also pulled it out, but also here the question. Should I remove the whole deck floor? And how close i should cut the deck floor because of the hull? When I use my decoupling saw I fear to cut trough the hull... And, the foam, what is the best, only replace the wet parts or pul it all out and no foam or...
The inside of the boat is all fiber glass....

I can't see any need to remove the cap, as you call it. You should be able to cut the floor away with a circular saw set to a shallow depth, without harm. Are the stingers glass, or glass encapsulated wood ?

Thanks for your reply. The stringers are of wood and ecapsulated with fiber glass. I doubt about them to change also. The wood is in good shape, except the places where the stringers are connected with eachother. I have some photo's of them, and also is a littile bit of water stnding in the hull, next to the middle stringer.

Had you removed the deck cap (yeah, that's what they call it), tearing out the bad portions of the structure, would have been a lot easier and you'd have been able to reinstall the cap/liner assembly, as a solid unit. Now you have to piece it all back together, which means lots of transition tapers and patching. If the foam was wet and soaked, any nearby wood should be suspect. Remove all the foam, as it's the wrong kind and will continue to wick moisture out of the bilge cavities. You can replace it with more foam or just seal things up with air chambers instead.

Cutting through the hull is always a fear with power tools, but measure twice and cross your fingers. If leaving a perimeter flange, for rebonding a replacement sole, leave at least 3" (75mm) around the edge. This isn't much, but is often necessary, depending on how bad the sole actually is. On occasion, I've had to remove all of the sole, right to the interface with the hull shell and re-tab a replacement back in.

Does/did this boat have a full moulded inner liner (the "cap" referred to above) ? Such things are a comparitive rarity in my vicinity. I imagined otherwise, and the photos don't show it. Obviously if this was the case, removal of it as a single piece would be ideal, though maybe easier said than done, depending on how it was bonded to the hull structure. Boats I have seen that did have the full moulded liner originally, did not after refurbishment, whether by too great a difficulty separating the parts, or some other reason. In any event, assessing what needs to be replaced underfoot is not really possible unless on site, and even then, much can be hidden from sight, but tearing it all out has the complication of needing to have the hull better supported so it remains more or less true to its original shape. Even the original tabbing helps preserve the shape, where the rotted wood offers little support. Grinding it all back is for the young and enthusiastic and maybe not too bright, it is a big and not very pleasant job.

If you mean 75mm, you mean from the side of the hull, so cutting in the deck with on every side 75mm and cut a 'hole'? And would you replace it all or just the places that are rotten and with wet foam? I think to replace it all... It is more work, but than you are sure it will be good?!
It is a full cap, from the front to the back. The cap is attached with wood and nails on the inside (see picture's). Out the outside it has a rub rail that covers all that It would be really hard te cut that loose and I wonder if I can do that as dummy in restoring boats .
A the other side, it would be easier working to work on the deck.

Yes, cut around the perimeter of the sole, 75 - 100 mm away from the hull sides and remove the sole. It's likely rotten anyway, but more importantly you can get easy access to the stringers and the foam. It's probable the foam is saturated. I've removed about a 1/2 ton of saturated foam from boats that size before. That type of foam will suck moisture up, so it has to go. The flange that's created when you cut the sole out will help support the new one you'll put back in.

The deck cap often, particularly on newer boats is just the deck and side decks and a liner is installed underneath, which forms the furniture and possibly some structure too. Your boat looks to have the furniture as part of the deck cap, which saves the manufacture to trouble of a third mold.

The wood is a localized stiffener and it's probably got plenty of rot in it too. Use a screwdriver and jab every few inches into it to see how solid it really is. Around the fasteners and any hardware penatrations will be the most likely locations for rot.

The deck cap is typically attached with a few hundred rivets or sheet metal screws around the rub rail. You'll have to remove the rubber or metal strip to gain access to these screws/rivets. You'd only do this to remove the cap.

This is a lot of work for a novice and can be hard to justify. If the engine/drive is in great shape, the rest of the boat (controls, steering, electronics, etc.) also in good shape, maybe it's worth the bother, but in most cases (90%), it's simpler and cheaper to just find a more sound hull and transfer the equipment.

The deck cap often, particularly on newer boats is just the deck and side decks and a liner is installed underneath, which forms the furniture and possibly some structure too. Your boat looks to have the furniture as part of the deck cap, which saves the manufacture to trouble of a third mold.

The wood is a localized stiffener and it's probably got plenty of rot in it too. Use a screwdriver and jab every few inches into it to see how solid it really is. Around the fasteners and any hardware penatrations will be the most likely locations for rot.

The deck cap is typically attached with a few hundred rivets or sheet metal screws around the rub rail. You'll have to remove the rubber or metal strip to gain access to these screws/rivets. You'd only do this to remove the cap.

This is a lot of work for a novice and can be hard to justify. If the engine/drive is in great shape, the rest of the boat (controls, steering, electronics, etc.) also in good shape, maybe it's worth the bother, but in most cases (90%), it's simpler and cheaper to just find a more sound hull and transfer the equipment.

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So when I see the screwdriver is solid, best to remove that too and take the cap off. Is it achievable to do this on my one, or is a special company needed to re-instal the cap? The electronics is no in the best shape off all, i'm looking for equipment (2nd hand) for buying this as cheap as possible. What do you mean by finding a more sound hull? I don't understand here what you mean by that ('sound hull).

About removing the cap (if necessairy), I first taken the rub rail away (any technique??). Than the metal strip and after that the wooden fixation? Will it come free easy or also here any techniquess?

Thank you for your answer. You mean, by reoving things, use them from other similar boats to restore it? I think that's impossible in my case...

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I mean it has to be a very good hull design, for it to be worthwhile, to go to the trouble of a restoration. However, you have already started, so that is not really relevant, what is needed now, is to do what is required to make a safe and solid boat for future use. What engine are you going to install/re-install ?

I mean it has to be a very good hull design, for it to be worthwhile, to go to the trouble of a restoration. However, you have already started, so that is not really relevant, what is needed now, is to do what is required to make a safe and solid boat for future use. What engine are you going to install/re-install ?

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I would like to by a second hand volvo penta 120HP (inboard), someone in Belgium is willing to buy just the engine from his boat. Or have you some advice about that too? A brand new engine is to expensive for me.

To be honest, your skill and experience levels suggest you should not remove the deck cap. It's not a job for the uninitiated and requires a bit of experence with manipulating large, often delicate objects, that usually don't want to be removed easily.

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